Fatih Erbakan reacts to the government over minimum wage! Criticizes the single-hike decision

As the local elections approach, the Yeniden Refah Party has announced its designated mayoral candidates for provinces and districts.

At the meeting organized by the YRP, 1 metropolitan mayoral candidate, 2 provincial mayoral candidates, 61 district mayoral candidates, and 23 town mayoral candidates were announced. 

Speaking at the meeting where the candidates were announced, YRP leader Fatih Erbakan said, "In a short period of 5 years, without receiving treasury aid, without the support of foreign powers, and without the winds blown by the media, our Yeniden Refah Party continues to grow rapidly every day with 81 provincial organizations, more than 900 district organizations, neighborhood and village organizations, and, thank God, 331 thousand official members as of today."

Fatih Erbakan continued his remarks as follows:

"Last week, we introduced 49 of our mayoral candidates at our headquarters. Thank God. Now, we will announce 87 more of our mayoral candidates here, God willing. May it be auspicious and blessed. Today, we will announce our 1 metropolitan mayoral candidate, 2 provincial mayoral candidates, 61 district mayoral candidates, and 23 town mayoral candidates. In total, we will have announced 87 mayoral candidates. They are mayoral candidates until March, and God willing, they will be our mayors after March. The 87 invaluable mayoral candidates we will announce here today, and hopefully all of our Yeniden Refah Party's mayoral candidates, will bring our nation the services they have longed for in the municipalities, with God's permission."

REACTION TO MINISTER IŞIKHAN OVER MINIMUM WAGE

Speaking on the issue of the minimum wage, Erbakan reacted to the statements made by Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, saying:

"What is the minimum wage in a country where the hunger threshold is 14 thousand? 11 thousand 400 liras. With this 11 thousand 400 liras, one must eat, heat their home, pay rent, and cover transportation, stationery, and clothing expenses. They have to cover everything with 11 thousand 400 liras. Such a situation is contrary to both mathematics and humanity. Our Minister of Labor and Social Security says, 'There is no one in our country living in extreme poverty or below the hunger threshold.' We watch these statements by the honorable Minister with astonishment, and we truly cannot understand if we live in the same country or look at the same statistics as the honorable Minister. Let alone our retirees who are deemed worthy of a 7 thousand 500 lira monthly salary, let alone our minimum wage earners who are deemed worthy of an 11 thousand 400 lira salary, even the salaries our professors receive in Turkey today are below the poverty line. We understand from Minister Işıkhan's approach to the minimum wage that he accepts our citizens remaining poor. He says, 'We are thinking of giving a single raise to the minimum wage as in the past.' In an environment where there is an inflation explosion, in an environment where no inflation calculation is valid even after a few months, if they are thinking of giving a raise only once a year, may God help these minimum wage earners."

ERDOĞAN HAD SAID 'THIS MATTER ENDS WITH A SINGLE RAISE'

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his statement on the plane returning from the United Arab Emirates regarding the minimum wage, had said, "As you know, the minimum wage increase is already once a year. This matter ends with a single raise. The primary person responsible for this is our Minister of Labor, Vedat Işıkhan. We have not let our citizens be crushed by inflation until today, and we will not let them be crushed."

News Source: 12punto